Fine Art Honorable Mention, by Mary Angela Luzader
Photographer: Mary Angela Luzader
Where: Venetian Gardens, Leesburg, FL
Camera: Canon EOS 50D with a Canon 100-400mm IS lens; 1/400 second at f/9; ISO 200“Venetian Gardens is a wonderful place to photograph Purple Gallinules in a natural, parklike habitat. Someone called my attention to this pair chasing and fighting each other. I have never witnessed this behavior, and I was so excited I almost forgot to snap a few shots! When the fight was over, the victor got the girl, and the loser was chased away, with a few less feathers . . . and perhaps a headache!”
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As California faces water restrictions during a historic drought, Pamela Anderson stars in an Alfred Hitchcock–inspired PETA ad—photographed by famed artist David LaChapelle—to declare that the solution isn’t just shorter showers—it’s also turning off the tap that supplies animal agriculture. She says, “Making a splash for the environment doesn’t just mean shorter showers. Try vegan.”
“Rivers are siphoned off, not just for the animals but also for crops like alfalfa grown to feed animals on factory farms,” says Pam, a PETA honorary director and longtime vegan. “Producing 1 pound of beef uses as much water as about six months’ worth of showers.”
… more at: peta

A new firmware update for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II, which incorporates a number of improvements and fixes, is now available for download. The details of the firmware update is shown below…

EOS 7D Mark II firmware Version 1.04
Firmware update Version 1.04 for the EOS 7D Mark II incorporates the following improvements and fixes:

– Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera’s AF function may not operate properly at a focal length of approximately 100mm when used with the EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens.
– Fixes a phenomenon in which, in rare instances, the reduction of the flicker effect cannot be achieved when in AI servo AF mode, despite the “Anti-flicker shoot” function being set to “Enable”.
– Fixes a phenomenon in which the Picture Style settings may not be applied to the captured image when the camera is set to custom shooting mode C1, C2 or C3.
– Fixes a phenomenon in which, in very rare cases, the first still image captured in live view mode may not record the correct date and time.
– Fixes a phenomenon in which, in very rare cases, image noise may appear in JPEG images when brightness or contrast is corrected by the Auto Lighting Optimizer function.

Quentin Caffier Shoots Fashion with the EOS 5DSFashion photographer and Canon Explorer Quentin Caffier is on fashion photography’s fast track. One of Europe’s new breed of busy modern professionals, his recent shoot with a pre-production EOS 5DS has convinced him that – to stay ahead of the curve – he needs every one of those 50.6 Megapixels. CPN caught up with him recently to find out why…

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“I didn’t know I needed it, until I saw the quality…”Quentin Caffier Photography

The photography world is full of seminars, workshops, and exhibitions. But over time, a few events start to stand out from the others as they become more celebrated. One of these events is the annual LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, Virginia. This year’s festival has an impressive lineup of artists, including Larry Fink, Alec Soth, David Alan Harvey, Piotr Naskrecki, and more.
NOTE: The photos featured here are a selection of images from the upcoming 2015 festival.

A storm descends on a Brooklyn rooftop. David Alan Harvey will be presenting his work on Saturday, June 13.Photograph by David Alan Harvey

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Alec Soth will be presenting his work on Friday, June 12.Photograph by Alec Soth

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Larry Fink will be presenting his extensive body of classic photographs on Thursday, June 11.Photograph by Larry Fink

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Defensive startle display of the peacock katydid from Suriname. Piotr Naskrecki is the 2015 TREES artist. His photographs will be displayed along Charlottesville’s Main Street.Photograph by Piotr Naskrecki